double

The Fa Cup final on Saturday at Wembley will give Chelsea the chance not only to complete the Double, but also to revenge their 3-0 loss at Emirates Stadium last September.

“We still think about it”, – Victor Moses said. – “We lost two games in a row then, against Liverpool and Arsenal. We felt very sad after that game. They beat us at the Emirates but we switched to 3-4-3, which is the manager’s favourite formation, and it’s worked for us this season. Teams are finding it very hard to break us down. We’ve got the league title and they’re going to want to win because they missed out on the top four. We’re going to try and stop them because we want the Double”.

This Premier League title is one of the most unexpected for Chelsea, coming after a disastrous season and after a difficult start. Now, Antonio Conte and his men want it all, as they prepare to battle Arsenal and win the Double.

Last time Chelsea managed to lift the Premier League and FA Cup trophies in the same season it was 2010: Carlo Ancelotti lead the Blues to a legendary season. Two years later Roberto Di Matteo lifted the Champions League, with the FA Cup, constructing a different kind of double.

After this incredible season under Conte, with Chelsea beating the all time record for victories in a single Premier League season, to win the Double would be the icing on the cake. The big prey is already taken, but adding the FA Cup, especially by beating Arsenal in the final, would make it all more special.

Conte failed to win the Double in his time at Juve, focussing on the league and overlooking the Coppa Italia. The FA Cup has a different importance and prestige, and the Double would certify Conte’s outstanding work and set the basis for the future.

The Italian manager could present these unexpected and fantastic results to Roman Abramovich, asking for reinforcements in the squad and setting his eyes on the next season, with the participation in the Champions League becoming central.

After winning four domestic leagues in a row and impressing Europe with Italy, Conte needs to show his ability in the Champions League, where he has failed to impress so far. He’ll need a different approach, with less time to train and learn tactics and more players needed to stay fresh throughout the season.

With a Double in hand, Conte would be able to ask Abramovich anything, with the owner ready to spend what is needed to remain competitive on more fronts. Imagine what Conte could do with a bigger and better squad.

On paper, Chelsea are favourites to win it. But it won’t be simple. It’s Arsenal and Arsene Wenger’s last chance to show this season wasn’t a complete failure, and it could even be the French managers last game in charge. On top of that, the Gunners have a great record at Wembley recently, having won the competition in 2014 and 2015.

Chelsea will also have to be careful about the celebrations of the past week. The Blues will need to keep their concentration high to approach the game as they have done all season, in Conte’s spirit.

If Chelsea do their job, the FA Cup seems at hand, and Conte will conclude his first season in the best possible way, ready to plan the future for more victories.

Premier League is finished but Chelsea season isn’t: the Blues are running for the double, and they will try to emulate 2009/2010 success next Saturday, when they will face Arsenal in the FA Cup final.

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte‘s major concern is to not decrease the focus and the tension in the dressing room, so to have players with the right motivation at Wembley:

“This is the real danger for us, to think that this season is finished,” Conte said after lifting Premier League trophy today.

“To win the title this season becomes great. This season can become fantastic if we are able to win the FA Cup. We must find the right motivation. It’s important for us to celebrate, but then to find the right fire in our soul to be ready to work very hard this week to prepare and to feel in the right way this game,” he told reporters.

“This is a great opportunity to win and to do the double. If you ask me who is the favourite now, I can tell (you) it’s Arsenal. Arsenal now has only this possibility to find a good season after a win in the FA Cup. For this reason we must pay great attention. We must find in ourselves the right motivation, the right anger. The game will be very difficult.

“After I don’t know how many years Arsenal missed the Champions League. We must have our antenna very high and prepare in the right way. I’m not talking about tactical game, I’m talking about motivation, right fire in ourselves, in our soul, in our heart. If we have this in the same proportion as Arsenal, or more, we have the possibility to do the double. Otherwise we risk a lot.”

Eden Hazard warns Chelsea to remain on top to win more titles in the upcoming years.

The Blues won the Premier League title this season and are running for double with FA Cup final set against Arsenal for next Saturday, but last year finished the campaign 10th in the table after being crowned Champions of England the season before:

“That’s football. Sometimes you are on the top,” Hazard explained to BBC.

“Two years ago we won also the league, but last season was difficult for some reasons.

“Sometimes motivation is not on the top, fitness is not on the top, so a lot of things.

“(This season) we started well and we won the league, but next season we will be in trouble if we don’t work hard like we did this season.

“We need to be ready every year in the same level to be on the top.”

Hazard has returned to his best form under Antonio Conte, scoring 15 Premier League goals this campaign, and is determined to finish a fantastic season in style.

“We can’t celebrate a lot because we have the FA Cup final, we have to be ready for that, but after West Brom we did a little party together.

“Even in the dressing room, it was good to see the smile on faces. I think at the end of the season we deserved to win this title.

“It’s not just me, the whole team, all the players they have been fantastic. We won a lot of games.

“We have one more game (against Sunderland on Sunday) and the FA Cup final to play. I hope we can win the double.”

Chelsea defender David Luiz admitted that his team-mates and himself are thinking about making the double: after securing Premier League title last Friday, the Blues can make the second double of their history beating Arsenal in the FA Cup final on 27 May:

“If I say I’m not thinking about winning the double, I am a liar,” the Brazilian defender claimed.

“Of course we think about this, but we need to think day by day, rest well, keep ourselves very good in these next two games to have a top performance against Arsenal.

“It will be a difficult game against a fantastic team, so we need to be at a high level.”

Chelsea can win the double this season if they beat Arsenal in the Fa Cup final at Wembley.

So this match will be emotional for all The Blues’ players, but it will be special especially for Cesc Fabregas who spent eight years with the Gunners and was also their captain.

“It will be emotional. It’s not as if I like to play against Arsenal because they are a club which is in my heart and they always will be. I have to put those feelings aside. You have to be professional”. – Fabregas told the Evening Standard – “Of course, it means a lot to me, it’s not an ordinary game for me. But this is football and this is what we have to do, it can happen and hopefully we can win the double. That would be a fantastic season for Chelsea and for us. It will be a tough game. They are winning and that’s important for them. Their belief is higher. But our belief is high, hopefully, we can hurt them in the way we want.”

The Italian manager seemed very touched by this sudden tragedy and added:

“When this kind of situations happen football is not important, it’s not easy to speak about this, this situation hits everyone of us, for sure tomorrow there will be a strange atmosphere.

“It’s a pity, because he was very young, only 44, in these situations you start to think about many things, not good things, we are very sad for this, we can remember him tomorrow, it’s the least we can do.”

About Gary Cahill’s illness, he said:

“For sure this period it’s not lucky for us. When we started to train back on Tuesday he arrived with a bit of fever and our doctor preferred to bring him to the hospital to check his condition, now he’s getting better, but for tomorrow he’s a doubt. His problem was that he got gastroenteritis, but we are controlling the situation.”

Due to Cahill’s illness, Conte could be forced to choose another defender in the three back and John Terry can be a possible candidate:

“This is a semifinal, in this season we tried to have two options in every position, John’s position is in the middle in the 3 back, usually where David Luiz play, I have to think for tomorrow, we have different solutions.”

On John Terry leaving Chelsea at the end of this season he said:

“John has been very important for me in this season, he’s helping me on the pitch and off the pitch, he’s a great captain for us. He wants to play regularly and we have to respect his decision, I was a footballer and I know that when you arrive at this point of your career and your body tells you you can continue to play, you have to do it, your body tells you when it’s over. I think it will be a big loss for next season, for the changing room, in this moment his loss is very important.”

Thibaut Courtois skipped Manchester United‘s clash after an ankle injury he picked up during a commercial shoot, but it seems the Belgian keeper will be able to play tomorrow:

“He recovered for his injury and trained with us in this week, this is the most important thing.

“I spoke about what happened with the club, I keep secret what we said, commercial is an important part for the club, we have to find the right solution.”

Diego Costa apparently received a new huge offer from a Chinese side:

“The most important thing for us it’s to be focused on the present,” Conte replied.

“We have to keep the concentration, we have to finish in a great way, I hope we do something extraordinary. This moment is very important for the club because we’re building foundations, we’re doing a great job together.”

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino claimed that his side are still underdogs, but Conte tried to put some pressure on them claiming this is not the truth:

“They have to finish to consider themselves underdogs, they are a great power in English football now, they are a great team, it’s the second consecutive year they fight for the title. They are building something important, there is a moment where you have to finish to consider yourself an underdogs, this the right moment.”

Asked if a win or defeat tomorrow can affect the title race, Conte replied:

“FA Cup and Premier League are very different competitions, if one team win or lose doesn’t affect title race.”

Asked if he wanted to win a double in his first season at Chelsea and in England like his fellow-Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti, he replied:

“Of course we aim to the double, but my situation it’s very different from the Ancelotti’s one. He had the foundation, we’re building them.”

Asked if it will be more difficult to play in a neutral venue like Wembley, he replied:

“I don’t know about this, to play in your stadium of course it’s an advantage, for us it’s the same, it’s different play Wembley and Stamford Bridge, the same it’s for Tottenham. You feel you play in your house, and the opponent feel the same when they come to your house.”

After John Terry’s departure in the end of the season Chelsea will have to find another leader in the dressing room and that will a tough job:

“It’s not easy. Don’t forget this season some very important players for this team, people that made history here, like Ivanovic or Mikel, left and the next season also John Terry will be gone.

“It’s not easy to find the right replacement, for this season I say we are starting to build something important, now we have to find together the right players to replace these players and write again the history for this club. It’s not easy, people have to understand this.”

Chelsea vice-captain Gary Cahill assures his team are still aiming for the double.

The Blues are leaders in the Premier League with a four points gap on Tottenham ( 75-71) and will face the same Spurs in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley this Saturday:

“That’s our aim [to win the double],” Cahill said.

“It is going to be a great tie,” he added, speaking of the game.

“I think for the neutral, it is a terrific semi-final of teams left in the competition. One to look forward to, one that will add importance.

“It adds importance, as games against Tottenham always are. We will be ready for it and we will look forward to it. It adds a little bit but no matter who you come up against, it is a semi-final at Wembley to get to the final.

“We should be preparing in the same way, doing the same things. It is great to be back at Wembley. It is a great stadium to play at.”

Speaking about the other semifinalists – Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City– Cahill said:

“Listen, it is four top teams in there.They are four massive clubs, massive teams.

“I don’t think it was the hardest [draw] or easiest. Any draw would have been tough. We would be speaking about any of them in the same way.

“We have got Tottenham. There’s going to be a little added with the London rivalry but it is a route to the final. Whoever wins it will deserve to win it, with the strength of the teams in the semi.”

John Terry and Chelsea paid tribute to former Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti, who reached the incredible achievement of 1000 games as a manager last weekend.

The Italian coach led Chelsea to a fantastic double in 2009/2010 but was sacked by Abramovich the following season for not fulfilling expectations in Champions League.

Ancelotti shared the video Terry and Chelsea sent him as a tribute on his Twitter account, where the Blues captain said:

“Hi Carlo, congratulations on reaching 1000 games. Unbelievable achievement and I am very proud that I was part of your history, your success here at Chelsea and part of the 1000 games. Good luck for the future, mate.”

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